president obama and house speaker john boehner know they have to reach agreement this week if there's to be a deal, which is why they met behind closed doors on sunday. spokesmen for both men say that lines of communication remain open with the president reiterating today that he's up for a big deal. >> i have said i will work with republicans on a plan for economic growth, job creation, and reducing our deficits. i'm willing to compromise a little bit. but if we're serious about reducing our deficit, we've also got to be serious about investing in the thiges that help us grow and make the middle class strong. >> as for speaker boehner, he continued his political posturing today with a statement. quote, the republican offer made last week remains the republican offer, and we continue to wait for the president to identify the spending cuts he's willing to make as part of the balanced approach he promised the american people. that said, an increasingly limber group of republicans are showing flekx 5eb89 on higher rates for top earners arguing raising rates on the rich will give them gre